Tag: vortex violet

At Spiel in October, Michael Schäffer from the DMC sat down with Donald Reents from Chessex. The interview lasted 2 1/2 hours, and we’ll be releasing the information in parts. Part 1: Borealis was already published. This is Part 2: Test Sets.

At Gen Con in 2018, Chessex offered a line of ten new test set colors. The colors were only available at conventions, and the sales at those conventions among other factors would ultimately help Chessex determine which sets would go into regular production. There has been much speculation, but we now have official word from Chessex as to the fate of the Chessex sets. This article announces the sets that Chessex will produce in March; this article also provides insights into the different test sets and how they were chosen for production.

Test Color Background: Chessex developed Oxi-Copper’s green base color one to one and a half years ago. Water Lily, which was test color 207, has been around for seven to eight years. Sunburst was 297. These colors have existed as prototypes for quite some time, but Chessex haven’t produced them because of capacity issues.

Development: Donald from Chessex shared that the test sets were decided about two to two and a half months before their Gen Con debut. Donald actually said that he prefers to produce and sell the dice directly as opposed to producing test sets, but since Chessex’s production capacity was halted for awhile, Chessex wanted to get new colors out sooner to show that they were still producing new content.

Deciding: Chessex makes the decisions about test sets as they go rather than all at once. Sales have a major impact on what gets put into production, which is part of why Vortex Icy Blue won’t go to regular sales. Also, Vortex Icy Blue didn’t turned out as expected, another reason the set won’t go beyond the test version. Chessex decided that Vortex Navy Blue and Vortex Violet are too close to Phantom Teal and Festive Violet for regular production. Vortex Ice Blue has trouble with consistency during production plus looks somewhat like Mother of Pearl Blue, meaning it won’t go into regular production either.

Conclusion

Chessex will release four of the test colors in March of 2019. Chessex will produce Sunburst with Red Ink, Oxi-Copper, Festive Pop Art, and Water Lily. Two additional set colors, which were never released before as test sets, will also be released at the same time. Chessex will also produce Translucent Navy Blue at a later date. Test sets that will not be released include Sunburst with Black Ink, Vortex Icy Blue with Gold, Vortex Icy Blue with Red, Vortex Violet, and Vortex Navy Blue.